ITV will drop Big Ben from the News at Ten title sequence from next month as part of a radical overhaul designed to boost viewing figures.

All the ITN-produced national news bulletins on ITV1 will be rebranded and a new title sequence introduced, along with a new set.

The decision to drop Big Ben from the News at Ten title sequence has been taken after months of deliberation. ITV executives believe the imagery may be too London-centric and could irritate viewers outside the capital.

News at Ten's famous Big Ben "bongs" will be retained in the new title sequence, but the clock face will disappear. ITV will also unveil a new set for all its national bulletins and promote the changes in a multimillion-pound advertising push that will include a billboard campaign and promotional clips that will run throughout the broadcaster's schedule.

The new look is designed to complement the ITV1 brand by using similar graphics and imagery to the channel's overall on-screen identity.

News at Ten will continue to be presented by Mark Austin and Julie Etchingham, who is also to take over presenting revamped ITV1 current affairs programme Tonight when it moves to a new weekly peak-time slot – thought to be Friday at 7.30pm – from January.

ITN and ITV's regional news teams are to take a bigger role in producing Tonight and independent producers will also be invited to pitch to make individual editions of the show.

News at Ten currently has about 2.5 million viewers, roughly half the audience that regularly tunes in to the 10pm news on BBC1.

The bulletins on the nation's two most popular channels have been head to head since January 2008 when ITV moved its late news back to its traditional 10pm time slot.

That decision was taken by outgoing ITV executive chairman Michael Grade, who also persuaded Sir Trevor McDonald to come out of semi-retirement to anchor the new-look bulletin. McDonald has since stepped down.

Before Grade moved News at Ten to its current berth it was shown at 1O.30pm for several years, a change that prompted the BBC to shift its own nightly news to 10pm and is now regarded as a major strategic scheduling blunder by ITV.

The changes will come into effect on Monday, 2 November, and will be backed by a major marketing push as ITV seeks to narrow the 10pm news ratings gap with the BBC. News at Ten's viewing figures have risen by 7% so far this year compared with the same period last year, according to ITV sources, but remain significantly below the BBC figures.

Alastair Stewart and Mary Nightingale will host the Evening News, and Katie Derham or Alastair Stewart will present the Lunchtime News.

ITN is also seeking to underline its credentials as a news organisation that reflects the nation as a whole as it plans to bid for the right to run independent regional consortia that will deliver news to the regions.

The government wants to use cash allocated to the BBC to help the most vulnerable switch to digital TV to fund those consortia.

Michael Jermey, the ITV director of news, current affairs and sport, said: "ITV news programmes are performing extremely strongly, getting journalistic scoops and winning major awards. We believe the investment in our news brand announced today will further enhance the appeal of our programmes for ITV1 viewers.

"Our current affairs output will be strengthened by our national and regional news teams working more closely with our network current affairs producers than ever before. ITV1's weekly current affairs programme Tonight will be able to tap into the best of our journalism right across the ITV network. The close collaboration between newsrooms and current affairs specialists will help us produce excellent programmes for viewers."

David Mannion, the editor-in-chief of ITV news, added: "We are delighted that ITV has decided to make this very significant investment in its news from ITN. It is a ringing endorsement of the quality of work delivered daily by an exceptional team of journalists and technicians. We are also greatly looking forward to working with ITV's excellent Tonight team."

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